“I roll and I wallow,
For gobbling Loppy Lankin!”
Loppy Lankin
But Loppy said from the tree:
“Roll, witch! Wallow, witch!
For gobbling your daughter!”
The witch heard him, and she lifted up her head and looked all around, but she saw no one; so she said:
“I roll and I wallow,
For gobbling Loppy Lankin!”
And Loppy said from the tree:
“Roll, witch! Wallow, witch!
For gobbling your daughter!”
And the witch was frightened. And she looked up; and she saw Loppy in the tree.
That did it! The witch ran off to the blacksmith, and, “Blacksmith,” she says, “make me an axe, quick!”
So, the blacksmith made the witch an axe on his anvil; but when he gave it to her, he said, “Now think on, missis,” he says. “You’re to chop with the butt; you mustn’t chop with the edge: it’ll blunt.”
And would you credit it, but that witch did as he said! She ran to the tree, and began at hacking it with the butt; and of course that did her no good at all. So she threw away the axe, and began at gnawing the
tree with her teeth. Now that was more like! She bit and she bit; and the tree cracked. Grey geese flew in the sky. Loppy saw the geese; and he saw it was time for him to be doing to shift himself out of that; so he said: •
“Now then, geese, grey geese!
Let’s be having wings under me!
And my father and my mother,
They’ll give you food and drink!”
But the geese saw the witch, and they said, “Get another flock, hungrier than us, to take you home.” And on they flew.
By this time, the witch was making splinters fly, never mind geese, with her chomping; and the tree shook, and cracked some more. And another flock of geese came by.
“Eh up!” says Loppy:
“Now then, geese, grey geese!
Let’s be having wings under me!
And my father and my mother,
They’ll give you food and drink!”
But the geese said, “There’s a little bald goose following us. Maybe she’ll take you.” And on they flew. And the little bald goose didn’t come. And the tree was bending and cracking, and the witch was
licking her lips between bites; and Loppy was thinking: Well, this won’t do! when up comes the little bald goose, and Loppy says:
“Now then, goose, little goose,
Bald goose, now then!
Let’s be having wings under me!
And my father and my mother,
They’ll give you food and drink;
And they’ll wash you in clean water, too!”
And the little bald goose flew down and took Loppy on her wings, just at the very moment that the
witch chewed right through the tree. The tree clattered over, and the witch gnashed' her teeth, all to no purpose, for the little bald goose and Loppy were gone.
They flew away, back to Loppy’s house, and landed outside the window.
What should they see there but all the friends and neighbours inside the house, with Loppy’s father and mother, having a ham tea, and weeping and wailing for Loppy being dead, as they thought. And Loppy’s mother was saying, “Have a cup of tea,” and, “You have a cup of tea,” to everybody. So Loppy pipes up from outside the window, “Can I have a cup?” And his mother says to his father, “Go and see who wants a cup of tea out there.”
Now when the father saw Loppy and the little bald goose sitting under the window - well, you can imagine the pandemonium! Hugging and kissing! Then they set to, the little bald goose and all, and polished off that gorgeous ham tea.
And that’s about the top and the bottom of it. You asked for a story; and now I’ve told you one, not too long and not too short, just the length same as from you to me. I’d tell you more, gladly; but that’s as much as I know.
Alan Garner Page 7